Senator Seward Enlists Taxpayers To Help Cut Wasteful Government Spending

ONEONTA, 06/04/10-- State Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I-Oneonta) today announced the launch of “Cut It Out!: Citizens Cutting Government Waste” – an interactive new on-line tool that will enable concerned taxpayers to cast votes for specific wasteful spending items that they would like to see eliminated from the state budget.

“This new on-line initiative will let hardworking taxpayers speak out and, in effect, join me on the floor of the New York State Senate,” said Senator Seward. “By working together, we can highlight wasteful and unnecessary spending practices, and help save New York taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars or more each year.”

On a regular basis, taxpayers in the 51st senate district will be given an opportunity to vote on-line and give their opinions on which specific examples of wasteful spending should be eliminated. This direct input from constituents will provide Senator Seward with useful information that he will use to aggressively combat wasteful spending items in this year’s state budget negotiations and debate. Going forward, additional spending items will be added to the list for public consideration and new rounds of on-line voting by taxpayers.

“In the past, I have highlighted a number of potential cost saving measures, including the consolidation of under-utilized state agencies, increased Medicaid fraud detection and a state spending cap. The “Cut It Out!” initiative goes a step further by adding the public’s voice to the budget battle,” Seward concluded.

The five spending items which are eligible to be voted on in the initial round of on-line balloting can be found by clicking here.